A devoted (obsessed) 18 year old girl's views on all-things Yankees, and other random thoughts

Results tagged ‘ Nick Johnson ’

I enjoyed this weekend’s series win against the Mariners. Except for the first game. Just looking at the pitching matchup, I knew we would lose that one: A.J. Burnett vs Felix Hernandez. Yeah…so instead of wasting my time watching that loss, I decided to watch my all-time favorite movie, and in my opinion, the best movie ever made: Gone With the Wind.

My parents say I sometimes remind them of Scarlett O’Hara, and I take that as a compliment. Scarlett is a beast. She was strong, and survived the Civil War. Not to mention, she married the HOTTEST guy around, Mr. Rhett Butler…

So if I am at all like Scarlett, then I’m proud of myself. Anyway, every time I watch this movie, I can’t stop thinking about it for like the next week of my life. It’s that amazing.

I enjoyed the game 2 win when the team picked up Javier Vazquez after another bad start. And I really enjoed game 3, where Cano kept on beasting and CC pitched another vintage C “Cy” game. That 10-0 win was fabulous. But now, that seems so trivial. Because today, I heard news that broke my heart. Kind of like when Scarlett was at the barbeque at Twelve Oaks and she had every guy around her…but then she saw Ashley with Melanie, and her day was ruined (Yes I am assuming you know this movie).

Today, I heard that Johnny Damon might go to the Red Sox.

“It ain’t fittin’….it just ain’t fittin,” as Mammy says. How could Damon do that?

The Tigers put him on waivers. Rumor has it, the Red Sox made a claim on him – just to prevent him from going to the Rays or Yankees.

But Johnny has a no-trade clause or something, so maybe he will reject this. I hope so. What will I do if my beloved Johhny goes to the Red Sox?

I have no clue what I’d do. I know I would feel bad for Johnny. He doesn’t want to be there. Why would he? It’s not like the Red Sox are much better than the Tigers – both teams aren’t going anywhere. (Sorry Red Sox…you can have all the “pride” you want. But you ain’t going nowhere this year.) Boston was so cruel to him after he left, I don’t think they will want him back. He’s going to be miserable there.

I wish my Yankees never got Nick Johnson….what a waste. If they didn’t get him, then maybe Johnny Damon would have stayed where he belongs – with the Yanks. Oh, how I hate Nick Johnson for this…he looks like that crazy fat guy who kills himself in “Full Metal Jacket.”

It’s just disgusting. Johnny, I hope you don’t go to the Red Sox OR the Rays. I already feel awful that you didn’t come back to New York, and if you switch teams now and still don’t come back to New York, I’m going to feel even worse.

“Oh Rhett Johnny, if you go, where shall I go? What shall I do?”

“I can’t think about that right now. If I do, I’ll go crazy. I’ll think about that tomorrow.”

So today in school I was dreading to go to gym as I always do. And as always, gym period came. For the first time since like….well…ever, I had fun in gym. We played baseball! Only with a squishy ball and a wiffle bat. My team was awesome. Our whole lineup, which consisted of Rafael, Megan, Leland, Zach, Stephen, Jackie, and me, exploded with offense. And our pitching was great, thanks to Raf who filled in for the gym teacher. And the defense, especially Megan and Stephen, were on top of their game. We won in blowout fashion, something like 19-3. Our team was consistently good througout.

Why can’t my Yankees do this?

It’s frustrating….This past series in Detriot was utterly dreadful, with exception to game 3 in which Phil Hughes continued to shine and the offense woke up. I’m beginning to worry – have the injuries actually caught up with this club?

The fact is, the Yankee lineup just isn’t as intimidating at all. On Opening Day, the best bunch were sent out there:

Derek Jeter, SS

Nick Johnson, DH

Mark Teixeira, 1B

Alex Rodriguez, 3B

Robinson Cano, 2B

Jorge Posada, C

Curtis Granderson, CF

Nick Swisher, RF

Brett Gardner, LF

Take away Nick Johnson and Curtis Granderson. Then you have Marcus Thames and Randy Winn filling in. But if they play, then there is no one on the bench. Except Ramiro Pena and Cervelli (♥) Not to be mean, but Ramiro really stank the other day. He came up 3, I repeat 3 times with men on base/in scoring position, and made unproductive outs every time. Guys like Greg Golson and Juan Meranda are emerging, but are far from the quality of the Big names.

Wake up, cutie! You used to be so clutch…

Our pitching has been relatively icky lately as well. Javier Vazquez was very solid in his start, going 7 innings for the first time all season. Injuries to pitchers like Pettitte, Park, and Aceves have hurt the pitching staff. Sergio Mitre started for Andy the other day and wasn’t great. Sorry Sergio, you weren’t. David Robertson has been a nightmare out of the ‘pen. CC and A.J. both got knocked around too much in their last starts. It’s scary when the guys you really depend on fail you. A.J. goes tonight….I hope he fixed himself.

CC I was disappointed with you yesterday. I hope you do better next time, my Hefty-Lefty ♥

I know, I know…the team is just going through a bad stretch. But can they really afford to do this? Now? The Rays haven’t stopped winning. And tonight marks the start of an extremely hard part of the schedule for my Yanks: 3 against the Twins, 2 against the Red Sox (I’m still enraged at Josh Beckett), 2 against the Rays, and then 3 on the road against the Mets. These are games that the Yankees have to win, or else it’s gonna look bad.

But maybe….hmmm….maybe this bad stretch DID come at a good time….Maybe since they did bad the past series, the odds are in their favor to go on a nice long winning streak. And, maybe since Derek Jeter only got 3 hits in like 30 at-bats on this road trip, maybe he’s ready to wake up now. Yeah….and Cano will get hot again, because odds are he won’t be in a cold stretch for too long. And A.J. will beast tonight because, well, he’s a beast. Javy will follow up with another good start. CC will bounce back C “Cy” style. Robertson will find it. Cervelli will keep being sexy. And eventually, my wounded-warriors, Curtis GrandyMan (miss you baby ♥), Nicky-J, DandyAndy, Ace, and Chan Ho will come back.

Things will get better for my Yankees. Just as they did for me. My AP’s are OVER, and I miraculously survived. And I had fun in gym today? When does that happen?

Only 14 real school days left. Whoa. Then it’s practically summer, and in summer I can blog everyday again…. I bet a lot will happen in these 14 days, for me and for the Yankees. I bet we get some of our hurt players back, and the other guys will get hot again. And some guys, like Francisco Cervelli-welli-jelli-belli ♥♥♥ will remain hot all year long.

It is yet another series win for the Yankees. This one has been especially entertaining for me, because a certain player who I love so much has seen some extra playing time, and has made the most of it. But I’ll get to that later🙂 The Yankees won game 1 and game 2 by the same score of 4-1, and won game 3 by the score 7-5 to complete the sweep.

Game 1

Game 1 was a close game from start to finish, but for some reason it never felt that way. Even when the Yankees were behind, it didn’t feel like they were losing. I just knew they were going to come back, and they did. CC Sabathia allowed a solo home run to Matt Wieters in the 2nd, but other that that he was great. By limiting the amount of damage, CC enabled the potent Yankee offense to come back. And they did.

There he is: C “Cy” in action ♥

In the 4th, A-Rod led off with a single, and eventually came around to score on a Swisher single to tie the game at 1. Brettiboo Gardner followed with a single. Then Randy Winn came up. My Mom was just saying how the Yankees really needed to bring up another outfielder, because Randy Winn can’t hit. I guess Randy heard this. He connected for a monster 3-run home run, and gave the Yankees a 4-1 lead! How cute! Thanks to Randy’s big fly, the Yankees won the game.

How cute is this? Randy Winn? That’s so random!

Game 2

This is the game that I liked the best. OMG it was like I died and had gone to Cervelli Heaven…♥♥♥ It was amazing…I was extremely jealous that my teachers all went to see this game. The history teachers all went together. That’s kind of cute. Those three are my favorite teachers at the school. I told them to say hi to Cervelli for me, but I don’t think they did….

Look at that arm….ow-ow!…I’m lovin’ those tattoos😉

The combo of A.J. Burnett and Francisco Cervelli proved to be very dominant once again for the Yankees. A.J. pitched 7 1/3 innings of solid baseball. He only allowed 1 run, but it was unearned. The 3rd inning was just down-right awesome. Burnett got into a jam: With a run already in due to a throwing error, the Orioles looked to add to that with runners on 2nd and 3rd and none out. I was afraid A.J. was going to unravel. But Cervelli calmed him down, and together, those fears were washed away. Burnett struckout Jones for out #1. Then, Nick Markakis struckout for out #2. It was then Matt Wieters’ turn. Guess what happened to him? Wieters struckout for out #3. Inning over. Crisis averted. Cervelli fist-pumped out of excitement, and the momentum was now in the Yankees’ favor.

Mmmm….Cervelli-welli-jelli-belli…God only knows how much I love you ♥♥♥

In the bottom half of the 3rd, Cervelli led off. I guess he was still so pumped up from A.J.’s performance in the top of the inning. He hit a ball in to the outfield, that fell out of reach of the diving Oriole. He saw the ball was heading all the way to the wall. So as he rounded 2nd, he knocked off that silly helmet and hustled all the way to 3rd for a LEADOFF TRIPLE!!! It was the first triple of his career. He was so pumped up, and so was I. He then scored on a Ramiro Pena groundout to tie the game at 1.

In the 4th, Cervelli decided to show off his glove. A foul ball was hit by the Yankee dugout, and Cervelli tracked it down. But the ball was going to land in the dugout. Cervelli made a bold, brave move, and jumped headfirst into the Yankee dugout to catch the ball! He knew his teammates would save him. It was an amazing play, and it sent me into my continuous “Cervelli is cute” cheers that I have become so accustomed to in the last few days. It was funny how all the teammates grabbed hold of Cervelli to prevent him from falling in the dugout. I was a little jealous of them there….I wouldn’t mind touching Cervelli down there by the tush….

In the 5th, Gardner led off with a walk, Cervelli singled, and Ramiro Pena bunted. The throw went crazy, and everyone was safe! A run scored on the play, giving the Yankees a 2-1 lead. Tex walked, and with the bases loaded Alex Rodriguez had a great at-bat. After fouling off about 100 pitches, 2 of which almost took out Cervelli at 3rd, Alex walked to force in a run. 3-1 Yanks! The 4th and final Yankee run came in the 8th inning on a sac fly by Ramiro Pena. Joba held on to close out his 2nd consecutive game, and the Yankees won it!

Game 3

I didn’t see much of this game because it came on a 1, and I got home at 3:30. But from what I heard it was a great game. the Yankees won it 7-5. Andy Pettitte started and did a pretty nice job, going 5 innings and allowing just 1 run. But he exited the game early, which may be a reason for concern. His elbow is a little stiff, but hopefully everything is okay. I guess it’s good he came out – better safe than sorry. The Yankee bullpen did a lot of work today. Sergio Mitre, Damaso Marte, David Robertson, Boone Logan, and Alfredo Aceves all pitched. Mitre and Robertson allowed a few runs, but whatever. The Yankees had a big lead, I don’t blame the guys for throwing strikes.

I hope your arm feels better, Andy.

On the offensive side, the Yanks scored 7 runs on 10 hits – hits from some guys we wouldn’t expect. Like Nick Johnson! He hit a solo homer in the 1st inning today. Aw. He may finally be getting out of that season-long slump! The only bad thing about this is….I think he’s going to keep that icky perv mustache. Usually, players don’t like to change anything about them when they are doing well. Oh well….as long as he hits, I’ll take it. Nick Swisher also had a HR today; congratulations Swishalicious. You are have had quite the hot series😉 Cervelli also had another hit today, what a surprise lol. He’s just too good to be true…

Even with the moustache, I still think he’s cute. It must be the pinstripes😉

This series has been awesome. I’ve been pretty stressed out lately and these guys have really helped me get through it. The heroes for the series sweep are the starting pitchers: CC, A.J., and Andy, for their dominance, Nick Swisher, for beasting throughout the entire homestand, and…..and…..FRANCISCO CERVELLI ♥♥♥ for doing everything and anything the team needed. God bless that adorable man. I want him soooo badly…he is my favorite Yankee, and that really is saying a lot.

I’m glad the Yankees are off tomorrow, only because I will be able to get to bed early. Friday is my AP US history exam, and I am freaking out a bit. But you know what? It’s okay. It really is okay. I already got college credit for this class, so the AP exam is just bonus. And I think I will be alright anyway…I’ve been studying my tail off this past week. Hopefully it pays off🙂

The answer is no. Why should anyone care about this loss? I mean, think about it: The Yankees still won the series, as well as every other series so far in the young season. Phil Hughes was fabulous the other night in his flirt with history, and CC didn’t do too shabby today. Texy-wexy may finally be ready to break free from his April power-outage at the plate. My baby Cervelli caught today and did a great job. It just so happens that the other team scored more runs. No biggy. The Yankees lost to the A’s 4-2, but still won the series.

Pitching Analysis: C “Cy” Sabathia struggled early, then kind of settled down and pitched the whole game, but took the “L” anyway. His first inning was a little rough…perhaps he was nervous about playing in front of his family? Whatever the reason, CC couldn’t fint the plate. After allowing 2 walks, Kurt Suzuki came up. Cervelli called a fastball in the middle of the plate to get CC back into strike-throwing mode. This was a good idea – except the fact that Suzuki crushed the fastball way way back outta the park in left, for a 3-run homer. Eew. 3-0 A’s.

On the day, CC pitched the full 8 innings. His pitch-count was low, just 97, but he threw only 51 strikes. My hefty-lefty walked a hefty-handful of 6 Athletics, while only striking out 5. All 4 runs he allowed were earned. But considering that his stuff was not sharp today, CC did a nice job. He kept us in the game, and kept the winded bullpen out of it. If the Yankees won, I would have counted CC as a hero for the victory.

Defensive Analysis: The defense was friggin’ AMAZING today. I saw something today for the first time in my life….maybe it will be the last time. Yep. I saw it. I saw the history! THE TRIPLE PLAY!!! In the 6th, Barton led of with a single, Sweeney followed with a walk, then Kurt Suzuki came up. OMG it was awesome: He hit a sharp grounder to A-Rod, who stepped on the 3rd base bag. Then, instinctively, Alex fired a strike to Cano at 2nd, who smoothly as always fired a strike to 1st into the glove of Nick Johnson. It wasn’t even close! Suzuki was out!

Witness the AWESOMENESS:

I thought this play would spark the Yankee bats. But I was wrong…

Offensive Analysis: The offense was pretty dead today. Not much went on aside from Marcus Thames’s solo bomb in the 5th and Mark Teixeira’s homer in the 6th. They didn’t hit with runners in scoring position. Actually, they barely had any chances. They were 0-4 in those situations. Dallas Braden just kept them off-balance all night long. Oh well!

MAAAAAARK TEX!

So the Yankees lost. Hey, it’s going to happen. But you know what? It really is okay. This is the best start the boys have had in a long time. And they didn’t play badly – they just were beaten. My hat goes off to Braden and Suzuki of the A’s.

I’m likin’ the situation this team is in. Tied for 1st in the AL East with a sparkling 11-4 record?

The past week has been a great one for the Yankees. For me it’s been busy, but just as great. The Home Opener was awesome, especially because I won the cookies! Thank you, Yankees, for winning to the score I predicted: 7-5. They lost Wednesday, but who cares? They bounced back with a win on Thursday 6-2. Then the Rangers came into town. My Yankees won last night in a short 6-inning rainy game by the score of 5-1, and just won today 7-3, locking up their 4th series win in 4 series. I’m so proud of these guys!

The funny thing about all this is, throughout the week I have only seen 1, I repeat 1 Yankee game from beginning to end. Yeah. I don’t really like that…but what can I do? This is junior year…by far the most stressful year of my life so far. School has been intruding its way into the more important things in my life…sorry Yankees. That 1 game was on Thursday, where I decided not to do any of my work. Today, Saturday, I didn’t have to do any work. But my best friend was home feeling under-the-weather and asked if I could come over. Of course I did. Hopefully she’s feeling better now ♥ By the time I got home, it was 7-0 in the 6th. Whoa. My boys are holding their own without me.

Pitching Analysis: A.J. Burnett was a real beast today. He went 7 innings of 6-hit, shutout ball, recording 7 K’s along the way. I was pleasantly surprised to see him come out, and complete the 7th inning. I was worried, like many others were, about his pitch count. But then I remembered something: A.J. Burnett is a man. A big, tough, sexy-tattooed man. He can handle 111 pitches this early in the season. Oh yeah. He can😉 Another thing that surprised me was that he did all this with Jorge behind the plate. It really pleases me to see them getting along. The only thing I don’t like about that, is that it means Cervelli (♥) won’t be catching him every 5 days…I enjoyed seeing him yesterday though.

Alfredo Aceves allowed a 3-run homer to Nelson Cruz in the 8th, and was pulled for Marte, who did a nice job. Joba Chamberlain closed it out nicely, ending the game with a strikeout. He looks mighty fine himself…

Offensive Analysis: The offense exploded once again! Boy do I love when this happens. they didn’t score at all when I finally got to watch it, but that was okay – they had a huge explosion earlier in the game. Nick Johnson walked with the bases loaded to force in a run, and Tex drove in a run with a cheap little hit in the 2nd.

The 3rd was where the real explosion occurred. Gardner, who had a stereotypical “Gardner” day at the plate, (with 3 pesty little infield singles) drove in Jorge with an infield single. Then he and Granderson, who was on 3rd, tried to pull that old double steal of 2nd and home trick. Gardy broke for the bag, and the throw went wild! GrandyMan (♥) scored, the inning continued. Yay. In the same at-bat, Derek Jeter hit a 2-run home run, making it 6-0. What is up with Jeter lately? He’s on quite the power surge. I hope this keeps up.

Jeet also singled in the 2nd. He just sprays the ball all over the field.

In the 4th, Alex Rodriguez came up, still searching for his first HR of the season. After that at-bat, his wait was over! A-Rod went deep to right, finally filling in that home run column, and more importantly, giving the Yankees a cozy 7-0 lead. Awesome.

Hey good lookin’, whatchya got cookin’? HOME RUN!! Mmm…my favorite😉

Good game today boys! Everything worked so smoothly. The heroes for this well-played win are A.J. Burnett, for his sexy-beastness on the mound, Brettiboo Gardner, for being “annoying” and making me proud with 3 infield hits, and Alex Rodriguez, for getting his 1st of many homers this season🙂

It’s been a fun week to be a Yankee fan. These boys just make me so proud. Already, they are 8-3, and are in first place in the AL East. It seems as if a few guys left, a few new guys came, but the team is continuing right where they left off last season. I know it’s early, but #28 doens’t sound too far-fetched…

Last night’s game didn’t have too many positives. That could’ve been my fault. I wasn’t watching the game like I should’ve been. Instead, I was flipping back and forth from the Yankees to the Celebrity Apprentice. See, the Apprentice is on on Sundays, but I didn’t watch it last time because of Opening Night. So I figured I’d catch the rerun on Friday. But then I realized that Friday was Javier’s debut! How could I miss that? I only gave Javier half my heart last night. And he struggled. My fault, Javybaby. The Yankees lost 9-3 last night, and I am disgusted with myself.

Pitching Analysis: I watched the first three innings of the game without flipping channels, because the Celebrity Apprentice didn’t come on until 8. Javier looked very good…striking out Rays left and right. He didn’t allow a run through the first 3 innings. But after that, well…things fell apart.

The 4th inning was gross. When I flipped back, the Rays had died the game at 2. By the end of the inning, it was 5-2 Rays, thanks to a homer by Carlos Pena. I was worried then, because I say how well Price was throwing. It was going to be a long night for the Bombers.

Back to the Apprentice I went.

When I flipped back, I saw Javy had completely lost it. It was 8-2. I didn’t know what had happened at the time, but the Rays were hitting him hard. Aybar hit a 2-run homer as well. Javy looked flustered, tired, and beaten. He was pulled for another sexy pitcher, Sergio Mitre. Sergio was not accustomed to coming in in the middle of an inning, and he surrendered another run. Aah! But other than that, Sergio looked good…very good😉

Offensive Analysis: There was not much offense last night, but I’m not mad at the Yankees. David Price is to blame. Congrats on your good pitching, David. We’ll getya next time.

The only offense came in the 4th and the 8th. In the 4th, A-Rod hit a 2-run inside the park home run! Okay, okay…it was a triple, RBI that scored Nick Johnson (who finally hit! Now we are just waiting on Tex), and an error which allowed Alex to score…forgive me for embellishing. I switched channels just in time to see it. That gave the Yanks a 2-0 lead, which would soon vanish.

The 3rd run came in the 8th inning, where Jeet doubled, and scored on a Nick Johnson double. I was annoyed that they didn’t score more. There were none out, and a man on second. But they couldn’t scrape across anything else. It was just 9-3…

It wasn’t fun last night…Let me apologize to my boys: Yankees, I am terribly sorry. You know how it is: you get hooked on those shows and look forward to them all week. And I didn’t watch in Sunday to see you guys. Last night’s episode wasn’t even good…it was upseting. Donald Trump fired Rod Blagojevich. I wanted Blago to stay longer because he’s funny. But no. Trump had to ruin everything.

“Governor, you’re fired.” LOL

I should have just forgot about the show. I betrayed you guys. I’m so so sorry…especially to you Javier. You were good when I watched you, but lost it when I left. Please don’t hate me.

And Granderson! Oh, I barely saw you last night…I miss you ♥ All I saw was the last pitch of one of your at-bats where you struckout. That left an icky taste in my mouth.

I knew I didn’t have to worry. Well, actually, during last night’s game I was worrying quite a bit. Yankees/Red Sox games just do that to me. But last night, by the time it was all over, I felt at peace once again. The positives of Sunday night were present again, ad the negatives turned themselves around. And seeing a certain someone pitch like way back in the days when that certain someone was good, that gave me the utmost sense of relief. My Yankees beat the Red Sox last night 6-4, and picked up their first of many “W’s” of the season.

Offensive Analysis: It was yet another strong offensive night for my boys last night. I was very proud, not only that they scored a lot, but they did so off such a tough opponent in Jon Lester, who surrendered 4 of the Yankees’ 6 runs. It’s comforting to know that no matter who the enemy puts on the hill, my Yankees never back down.

The Yankees got on the board in the 2nd inning, when Cano singled, Jorge walked, and the Swishalicious Nick Swisher drove in a run with his RBI double. I think this new hitting approach is going to really improve the already-solid Nick Swisher. That tied up the game at 1-1.

The Yankees kept fighting back last night, playing catch-up until the very end. The Yankees had a mini-offensive explosion in the 5th inning. Cutie-Curtis Granderson led off the inning with a single. Jeter followed that with a single of his own, which sent Granderson to 3rd base. Then Nick Johnson was hit by a pitch right in his back. I’m not sure if that was intentional or not. It may have been, because loading the bases there would create a force at every base. But there were none out, so I doubt it was intentional. With loaded bases, Mark Teixeira got an RBI groundout, bringing the score to 3-2. Trailing by 1, Alex Rodriguez came up in a clutch situation. I hoped his clutch-streak from last season would continue. A-Rod didn’t let me down: he delivered with an RBI double to tie the game at 3. Robinson Cano drove in the go-ahead run with a sac fly. 4-3 Yanks!

In the 8th, again trailing, the Yankees rallied. With the bases loaded, Mr. Plate Discipline, Nick Johnson, had a great at-bat. He walked, and forced in a run which gave the Yankees a 5-4 lead. The Yanks added a final insurance run in the 9th, when Robbie Cano hit a no-doubt home run. My Grandma was so silly in the 9th. She was begging for another run because she “is always a little unsure when Mo comes in. He is iffy.” That comment really caught me off guard. My response?

“Grandma, don’t be silly. Mariano is the greatest closer EVER! What do you mean he is ‘iffy?'”

That made her quiet.

But Grandma got her insurance run, and made it through the 9th inning just fine.

ROBBIE!!!

Defensive Analysis: There was a lot of stellar defense last night, along with some not-so-stellar defense. Derek Jeter experienced both. He made 2 breathtakingly beautiful plays: the first was in the 5th, where he made a fabulous jumping leaping play on an Ellsbury liner. He then stole my breath when in the 6th, he made a lovely stretching-reaching play to his right on an Adrian Beltre hot-shot. His error was just a little throwing error in the same inning. Luckily, it didn’t amount to anything for Boston.

Jorge Posada and Damaso Marte once again had defensive issues last night. In the 1st, Jacoby Ellsury got a cheap blooper that fell in front of Marcus Thames, (Gardner would have gotten it, but whatever) and then tried to steal 2nd. Jorge Posada flung the ball wildly into centerfield, letting Jacoby go to 3rd. Marte made a wild pickoff throw in the 8th. Actually, it wasn’t wild at all. It was lobbed to Tex as if a little girl threw it. Mark was not expecting that kind of throw, and missed it.

Pitching Analysis: A.J. Burnett started for the Yankees last night, and boy did he look good. He pitched okay, but he looked sooo goooood…..those tattoos…I don’t know what it is but I just fall for him. He was pumped up last night, which may have been why he struggled. A.J. went 5 innings, allowing 4 runs (3 earned) on 7 hits, and struckout 5. He looked so good that I wasn’t even mad at him when he was stinky.

The run he allowed in the first was unearned, thanks to Jorge’s little blunder. Speaking of Jorge, I think he and A.J. cooperated pretty well last night, considering everything they went through. The big oopsy of his outing was the 2-run homer V-Mart hit off him in the 3rd inning. Martinez got to Burnett again in the 5th, when he knocked in a run with a double.

It’s cute when they aren’t arguing.

The bullpen was much better last night, thank God! Alfredo Aceves was really spectacular, continuing right from where he was last season. I guess his back really is feeling better. His 2 innings of perfect pitching amounted to him picking up his first “W” of the season.

The real star of last night was Joba Chamberlain. Oh, Joba…what a surprise! You can be dominant in relief! We never knew….jk! Joba entered the game in relief of Marte in the 8th, and inherited a very sticky situation: a man on 2nd, 1 out, and a slim 1-run lead. I prayed he would be the Joba I knew and loved way back when.

It made me almost tear up. Joba was spectacular. He struckout Beltre, then struckout Drew. Then, to my hopes and surprise, Joba fist-pumped. He hasn’t done that in so long! It was beautiful to see him having fun with it again, while also being dominant at the same time.

So beautiful….(sniffle)…HE’S BAAACK!!!

It was a fun night to be a Yankee fan. The game was very topsy-turvy, with the lead switching several times. But this time, it was my boys who came out on top. The heroes for the victory are Nick Johnson (cute!!!) for his patience at the plate, Robbie Cano for his production and that homer, and….JOBA, for his pure enthusiasm which led to success. Great job, boys. You’ve evened the series.

Tonight is the rubber game of this 3-game set. It would be very nice if my boys could win it, get a little lead over the Smelly Sox who cheat at Fenway, Oops…I insulted them again.

This is not sarcasm people. I really am still happy. Of course winning is more fun, but just the fact that I watched the Yankees last night has left me feeling giddy all day long. For the first time since November 4th, when I was sick with swine flu watching my Yanks win the World Series, I watched a Yankee game, took notes in my little book, and was at complete peace. And the first half of the game, that was insanely awesome! I think I may have jinxed the Yankees…about halfway through the game when we were winning like 5-1, I already had a title in mind for this post, expecting they would win. Now I can’t use it because they lost…but whatever.

Maybe it wasn’t because of me. I mean, I could have said it was because about halfway through the game, the Red Sox realized their new team that’s “all about defense” and no offense wasn’t going to cut it, so they decided to cheat at Fenway like they almost always do. But lucky for all you BoSox fans out there, I didn’t say that. Oh wait…I did. I’m sorry😛 I’m going to try and not throw insults around yet…it’s still too early for all that jazz.

So the Red Sox beat my Yankees last night by the score of 9-7. My Yankees did a lot right, but somewhere it all fell apart. It happens…

Offensive Analysis: Well, one thing is for certain – the Yankee bats were not a concern last night. In the 2nd inning, Jorge Posada went deep off the Pesky Poll to give the Yanks a 1-0 lead, which was fun. But it got more fun! Curtis Granderson, whom I have yet to give a cute nickname, hit a solo homer to right-center field, going back-to-back with Jorge! 2-0! I was very impressed with Grandy last night.

Cute! I love this guy ♥

In the 4th, the Yankee bats sounded again. Robinson Cano, now batting 5th in the lineup,(brilliant decision, Girardi! I know it’s early, but this move may be as influential as flip-flopping Jeet and Damon was last season!) crushed a leadoff double off the Monster. He came around to score on an RBI single by Brettiboo Gardner, bringing the score to 3-1. An RBI single by Jeter made it 4-1.

But here is the coolest part: With Nick Johnson (also lacking a nickname) up, Gardy on 3rd and Jeet on 1st, awesomeness happened! Jeter broke for 2nd base, and Victor Martinez stupidly threw the ball over there. Speedy little Brett Gardner then stole home! 5-1 Yanks! HAHAA!!! So Jacoby, you shouldn’t feel too special or unique from when you did that off Andy Pettitte. You are not the only one with wheels. That double steal was the highlight of my night🙂

Oh, Brettiboo….♥

The Yankees scored again twice in the 7th on an RBI groundout by Cano and an RBI single by Jorge to retake the lead they lost, bringing the score to 7-5. I was very pleased with the offense last night. The bats were not the reason why we lost.

Defensive Analysis: Defense was….partly why we lost. At the beginning of the game, my Yankees were flashing their leather left and right. Curtis Granderson made a lovely leaping catch at the wall in centerfield in the 2nd inning. In the 3rd, A-Rod made a heads-up play. After a leadoff walk by Mike Cameron, Marco Scutaro hit a bullet line-drive to Alex, who caught it on the fly. With that sexy cannon arm, A-Rod fired to Tex, and doubled-up Cameron at first for the 5-3 double play. Texy-wexy also made a gorgeous play of his own in the 4th on a Dustin Pedroia sharp grounder.

Granderson can fly!

The icky defense came in the 7th inning. After the lead was blown, Marte entered the game, and flung a wild pitch on the first one he threw. Later in the same inning, he threw a pitch that wasn’t exactly on-target, but it was still in the strike zone. For some odd reason, Jorge missed the ball! And it rolled away…and Pukilis I mean Youkilis (Virginia…you said you would refrain from insults…try and be civil…there are still at least 161 games left!) came in to score the go-ahead run.

Pitching Analysis: CC Sabathia, my adorable-hefty-lefty-ace-cute-“chubby”-pitcher took the hill last night. His first pitch was a strike – a nice fastball on the outer half to Ellsbury. He was pretty good through the first 5 innings, just allowing 2 runs, but it unraveled after that for my big boy. He got into a mess in the 6th, gave up a few runs, and left the game with the tying run on 3rd. David Robertson relieved him, and let the run come in on an RBI single by Beltre.

The 7th inning made me want to pull my hair out. Chan Ho Park made his Yankee debut, and I’m sorry but he epically failed. At that time, the Yankees had recaptured the lead, and the score was 7-5. Quickly, this was all erased. Scutaro singled, and then Park dished up the go-ahead 2-run homer to Pedroia. Chan Ho-couldn’t-keep-it-in-the-Park was starting to piss me off.

-Excuse me, Virginia. If you are not going insulting the Red Sox tonight, what gives you the right to insult a Yankee…a nervous Yankee, on his debut? Very heartless of you.-

I’m sorry, conscience.

Then Park gave up a double to Puke-I mean-Youkilis. Then he left, and Marte came in, only to do his wild-pitch thing. THEN it was Joba’s turn. He got out of the 7th, but gave up a run in the 8th. By that time, it was too late for my babies on the offense side to come back.

CC wasn’t great last night, but the bullpen was a complete fail. Sorry guys!

So we lost…okay. It’s happened before, it’s not the end of the world. After all, the Yankees lost the first game last season and went ALL THE WAY! Remember: they are the Drama Club. They like to make things interesting. I like a little drama in my life…it can be exciting. The Yankees have a knack for creating drama in my life.

They also have a knack for sending me into cardiac arrest.

Guys, I like it drama, but I also like breathing. Just remember that🙂

Yankees, you are all so sexy and watching you last night made me happy all over. I love you, boys. I hope you have enjoyed your off-day.

Today has been so much fun, and now it all gets better from here. With Spring Training officially over, the regular season is about to start. I had the greatest pleasure of watching the Yankees play an exhibition game against the Future Stars. It was great – no matter who won, the Yankees would win! As it turned out, it was the Big Boys who came out on top. I got a little confused at the end of the game, because the Yankees put in all their rookies. So it was the Future Stars versus the rookies! For all of you who know me, you know I just LOVE rookies. Today was especially fun for me.

It was a good day all around. I don’t think anyone cared about the final score: Yankees 9, Future Stars 6. In fact, the rules hardly applied to this game. Marcus Thames was randomly thrown into the lineup without replacing anyone. His home run in the 5th was a monster shot.

I had the pleasure of watching Jesus Montero again today, who I don’t hate anymore. How could I? I only hated him because I thought he was a threat to Cervelli’s job. But Cervelli is safe for now, so I can now freely love Montero. He is cute…always, ALWAYS smiling! He reminds me a little of Melky Cabrera with his smile. And he’s good too, getting 2 hits today: a powerful double and a line-drive single. If I wasn’t falling for him before, I am now…he’s so muscular…and young…ooh-la-laa😉

Nice muscles ;)….

There’s the smile :)….

Ooh and he’s a goofball too? Aw…

Mmmm…..

Okay. Before when I said, “If I wasn’t falling for him before, I am now…” well, that’s somewhat of a lie now.I HAVE FALLEN FOR HIM. I thought you should just know this…

Remember how I was all depressed that Melky was gone? Well today, I was pleasantly surprised. As they showed the lineup for the Future Stars, a name caught my eye: Melky Mesa. Then the “Oh my God”s rampantly flew from my mouth. I could not wait to get a glimpse of him. When I saw him at-bat, I realized he didn’t look anything like the Melky I love. But I guess that’s okay. He is a different person…a different Melky…but I hope I can still love him the same. Like I said before, he looks different than Cabrera, but I can’t say that I’m disappointed at all. He’s still a cutie.

Here he is, the new Melky: Melky Mesa

Melky Mesa…mmm…skin a little darker than Cabrera’s, body a little thinner…but same youthful demeanour. I’m pulling for this kid all the way. ♥♥♥

I can’t get over how much fun today was for me. Aside from assessing the rookies’ looks, I assessed their skills! One player I think will be very very good is reliever Jonathan Ortiz. He has a very unorthodox delivery that creates deception. From the little I saw of him, I think he’s going to be special. Mark my words. I’ve “scouted” other players in the past too…like Ramiro Pena.

Ortiz will be good! I know it!

Spring Training, and especially today, was a blast. But now the real thing is here! The war is about to begin….and luckily, my Yankee warriors are back to good health. Cervelli will be okay, as well as Nick Johnson, Damaso Marte, and Alfredo Aceves. This is good…now, the Yankees will be able to deploy their finest, strongest, best warriors on the battlefield of Fenway tomorrow.

I’ll be there in spirit boys, just like I always am🙂

The 2010 season…I just can’t believe it is really here!!!! OMG!!!!!!!!!!! The quest for #28 starts tomorrow!

I’ve been missing my boys so much that I haven’t blogged about what the team is doing! I’m sure everyone knows anyway. We got Granderson, Johnson, and Vazquez. I think everyone also knows that Melky Cabrera was my baby and was my favorite Yankee. So you can imagine what this whole Javier thing did to me. But maybe, you can’t.

It was a normal boring Tuesday at school. I had just come out of history class and entered the halls on my way to English. I hear a man call my name, and turn around to see who it was. It was Mr. Ogden! My history teacher from last year, the GUY THAT LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE BRIAN BRUNEY!!! He knows all about me and my Yankee devotion. And he knows of my infatuation with Melky. Ogden quickly broke the news to me.

“Yankees traded Melky.”

I was stunned. At first I didn’t believe him. But then he said it again. And I almost cried right there in the middle of the hallway. As I headed away, my life ruined, he said, “Yeah, we got Javy Vazquez.”

I went to my locker and hid my head behind its door so no one would see if I cried a bit. Ogden’s words kept replaying in my head. “Yankees traded Melky.” How could this happen? I thought he was safe now.

I headed to English, Ogden’s words still terrorizing my mind. But this time, I let them play further: “Yankees traded Melky. Yankees traded Melky. Yeah, we got Javy Vazquez.”

Javy Vazquez? Javier Vazquez? O-M-G. I went back up to Ogden, and asked, “Wait,…Melky is gone, but we…have Javier…again???” Before he could answer, I turned away and let out a big “OH MY GOD!” Here is where the real story begins:

I was in sixth grade. Javier Vazquez became a Yankee. I didn’t know anything about him…well,…I had his baseball card from when he was with the Expos. I used to stare at that baseball card for God knows how long. I always thought Javy was adorable, but now I could actually see him play! I was happy, to say the least, about this deal. Javier Vazquez was my first crush. Isn’t that cute? Every time he pitched, my eyes didn’t leave the screen for a second. I felt like I was in Heaven looking at him. But this paradise was cut short.

Just look at him!. Friggin’ adorable! This picture just makes me want to hug him.

After ’04, the Yankees traded Javier away, without even consulting me (lol). They had no clue what they just did to me. I was young, about 10 or 11, and I was in love with Javier. AND THEY TOOK HIM AWAY FROM ME. I felt lost. I felt cheated. I felt cut-short; my one year with Javy was not enough. But there was nothing I could do. Javier was gone, and I was forced to move on. How terrible is that? A little girl, forced to get over her first crush.

It was hard, but I began to leave Javier behind. He left me in ’04, and in ’05, a new cutie came upon the scene. Do you know who this cutie was? Melky. Melky showed his pudgy little face for a short time in 2005, and I loved him immediately. He was such a nervous little rookie! In 2005, I had a new favorite Yankee; a new Yankee I loved. Melky Cabrera was this man. And he remained so for 5 years.

This pic just sums up Melky: Carefree, silly, and on base. I luv him.

Naturally, I was devistated when I heard Melky left. But when I found out Javier was swapped with him, I was happily shocked. This trade was the most bittersweet thing that ever happened to me. I was torn. I lost my sweet Yankee love, for my great love of the past. What is this girl to do? How is this girl to feel? This whole story sounds like something out of a movie or something.

This whole thing is 100% true. I still can’t really believe it. I won’t be seeing Melky again any time soon. No more dancing with Cano and Swisher. No more jumping high five after a win. No more silly, ridiculous things that only Melky can do. But…staring at Javier just might make up for this.

If anyone has any advice on how I should feel about this, please comment. You can imagine how torn I must feel.

Blog Stats

The following are trademarks or service marks of Major League Baseball entities and may be used only with permission of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. or the relevant Major League Baseball entity: Major League, Major League Baseball, MLB, the silhouetted batter logo, World Series, National League, American League, Division Series, League Championship Series, All-Star Game, and the names, nicknames, logos, uniform designs, color combinations, and slogans designating the Major League Baseball clubs and entities, and their respective mascots, events and exhibitions.